


A Tale of Two Bots, Twice

by 1000PaperCranes



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Breakdown Helps, But Mostly to Starscream, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e11 Speed Metal, Episode: s01e12 Sick Mind, Episode: s01e13 Out of His Head, Families of Choice, Gen, Getting One Past the Sensors, Knock Out Does What He Wants, Knock Out is a Punk, M/M, Megatron is Only Mostly Dead, Mostly Dead is Slightly Alive, No Beta: We die like mne, Now A Two-Shot!, Other, Slice of Life, Soundwave Does What He Wants, so to speak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-08 04:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19100161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000PaperCranes/pseuds/1000PaperCranes
Summary: Things aboard the Nemesis are... homey?  If one can avoid Starscream.Edit: Missing paragraphs have been found.  Apologies.EditEdit: Now a Two-Shot.  Both stand alone, but for your convenience are chronological.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry to all those who read the first go round. I lost a bit. It's there now.

Breakdown polished a bright stripe through the metal burn on Megatron’s chestplates

“Ah, Breakdown,” Starscream purred as he walked throught the door.  Breakdown’s mesh crawled.  “Has there been any–” A slight hesitation where Breakdown was sure Starscream substituted the word ‘deterioration’. “– _change_ in Megatron’s condition?”

“Hmm.”  Breakdown glanced over the slagged bot, just in case the buffing had done something unlikely.  “Only cosmetic.”

“Well, I am sure that you and the good doctor have been doing everything in your power– Where is Knock Out?”  Starscream looked around as though expecting the medic to be hiding in a corner.  He was not.  However, the door opened, conveniently delivering the answer to Starscream’s query.

“Can you believe what some skin job did to me?  Augh.” Knock Out tapped the gouges on his arm, ignoring whatever look was on Starscream’s faceplates.

“You have been street racing among the humans again, haven’t you?”

“I’m not only an automobile, I’m an automobile enthusiast.”  Knock Out smiled at Breakdown, knowing the deflection would strike deeper on Starscream than any other bot.  Keeping his expression vacant, Breakdown met the look.

Starscream advanced on the medic, no doubt intending to be menacing.  “I do strive to run a tight ship, Knock Out.  I would strongly suggest that you seek my permission next time you decide to disappear on one of your little… jaunts.”  The only thing menacing about Starscream was the sheer level of crazy, and Breakdown had lived with Rack’n’Ruin. 

“No worries, Herr Commandant.”  Knock Out smarmed, suddenly deciding to pick on the looniest bot this side of Antennae.

“It is _lord_ to you.” Starscream clearly did not enjoy having his delusions challenged.

“Only if Megatron takes a nose dive.”  Breakdown should probably have a talk with Knock Out about grinning while deliberately antagonizing thin-shelled bots that like revenge.

Starscream growled.  “The day our master emerges from stasis, I will graciously relinquish the title.  But l believe that outcome is unlikely.  Something to do with the quality of medical care around here.  So, continue buffing.  We do want Megatron looking his best for the memorial.”

Knock Out bristled internally, Breakdown felt it.  Starscream was insulting his skill directly, and Breakdown’s, but they had no delusions that the seeker was above attacking Megatron in such a vulnerable condition.  He certainly wasn’t capable of doing it otherwise.  But Starscream was as unhinged as they came, so Knock Out held his silence, and his smile.

The instant the door closed behind Starscream, Breakdown turned back to his work and Knock Out did his best to forget the crazed usurper.  He grabbed Breakdown’s arm as he raised the buffer to Megatron.  “Buff this,” he growled.  Knock Out’s irritation was visibly complete; his finish was wrecked, his supplies were limited, his patient was critical, and only one of those things could be fixed.  Although, they might be able to catch Starscream in the act if they were likely.

Breakdown happily latched on to the distraction.  “Over here.”  He led Knock Out to a wall seat by the door.  It was easily overlook and as good a place as any to rub the scratches out of a panel.  The damage was significant, but easy enough to fix.

“I didn’t think you could get crazier than two bots all crammed into one body, but then I met that guy.”  Breakdown knelt, pushing Knock Out to sit before him.  Breakdown turned Knock Out’s arm over in his hands, beginning to work.

“And Shockwave?”

“That’s not crazy, that’s the other thing.”  Breakdown shuttered.  It was definitely too soon to be making jokes, but it’s not like he was kidding.  He pressed his helm to Knock Out’s.  “I’m not going back.”

Knock Out set the buffer aside.  “Me either.”  He wrapped his arms around Breakdown’s neck, carefully picking at wires under the edge of his poorly designed armor, another ‘gift’ from Shockwave.  Thank Primus that they’d found a way around it.  Breakdown settled on his knees, allowing his chest plates to rest on Knock Out’s struts.  He looked up into Knock Out’s red optics, leaning into the hand that cradled his face.  “Did you ever think it would come to this when we started out?”

Knock Out’s struts locked behind his back.  He looked longingly at Megatron.  “I’m surprised he didn’t dismember you.” 

Breakdown looked over his shoulder.  Megatron hadn’t been their caretaker, but he’d been a close second.  It was probably the only reason either of them were still in possession of their sparks.  “I suppose we should thank him for that.”  Breakdown felt the warmth of Knock Out’s cheek plate atop his head.

“I still can’t find it,” the medic confessed, miserable.  “There’s something broken in there.  He still loves us, but he exiled us to _Shockwave_.  He wouldn’t just do that, he would never have accepted help from Shockwave or Starscream, or half the rancid stock he has, but he _did_.  And I cannot figure out why.”

Breakdown had seen it all, too.  It had been jarring, to see what had become of the Decepticon Elite.  The sane ones demoted, the insane promoted, and the unacceptable allowed to run amok so long as they stayed out of sight.  And the _vehicons_.  Expendable bots, the first thing Megatron had fought against, when he himself had been a bot with a forgotten designation.  And yet, here they were: living, breathing, _cannon fodder_.

They lapsed into a melancholy silence.  Breakdown held tight to Knock Out.  He couldn’t let his one good thing slip away.  He’d given up all the other good things for this one bot.  Breakdown would be slag in the pit before someone made him regret that.  He closed his eyes, listening to the hum of Knock Out’s spark, overcharged like all medics, but sweet and warm and _his_ like none other.

Too short a time later, the door whisked open, throwing them into a deep shadow.

It was not, however, Starscream come to finish the job.

It was Soundwave.  He spotted them immediately, but ignored them.  Instead, he approached their fallen leader.  Soundwave carefully removed Megatron’s helmet, then his own mask.  His white faceplates with their brown corrosion glowed softly in the angled light Breakdown preferred for working.  Releasing Laserbeak, Soundwave pressed his helm to Megatron’s.  He stayed perfectly still despite Laserbeak’s distressed trilling.  The Min-Con swooped around the room, trying desperately to wake her Carrier’s chosen one.

When she spotted the bots in the corner, her speed doubled and her warbling increased.  She darted between them and the slab, crying for help.  Unable to tolerate the Mini-Con’s tizzy, Breakdown reached out a hand to her.

“C’mere, birdbot.  We’re okay.”  Laserbeak landed reluctantly, but shuffled her way into their embrace quickly, cooing forlornly.  “Give them a minute.”  She accepted them as a poor surrogate, staying put as Soundwave hooked in his data cables, searching for the same thing they couldn’t find.  Breakdown silently wished him luck.

Some very long time later, Breakdown found himself rousing from a doze.  Laserbeak was asleep in his arm, but Knock Out was very much awake.  The medic was sitting statue still, watching the med slab.  Soundwave was moving, carefully putting himself and Megatron back to rights.  That must have been what woke Breakdown.  ::How long have you been awake?:: Breakdown asked silently.

::The whole time:: Knock Out replied.  ::I wanted to see if he found anything, even if it didn’t work::

::Did he?::  Breakdown couldn’t help but hope.  Soundwave was a carrier, if anybody could repair something a medic couldn’t, it would be him.

::No::

Of course not.  Although, it wasn’t like Breakdown hadn’t already guessed.

Slowly, Soundwave made a place for himself on the med slab, tucked between Megatron’s arm and chasse.  Megatron was prepared to the point where he could breathe on his own, though it would not do for Starscream to find out.  Of course, Soundwave was more than capable of reattaching Megatron to the scanners and other extraneous equipment.

::We should go::  Breakdown whispered out of deference rather than need.

Knock Out allowed his struts to relax, pulling them stiffly away from Breakdown’s chasse.  Breakdown scooped Laserbeak gently against his spark.

::What are you going to do with her?:: Knock Out asked when he did not immediately take Laserbeak to her carrier.

::He already trusted us with her.  Let them all sleep::  They slipped quietly out of the med-lab.  Breakdown turned for their quarters and didn’t say a word when Knock Out shuffled off toward the ground bridge.  He’d expected as much.  Knock Out had been his patient’s sentry the entire time Breakdown rested.  Any bot would need to burn off some energy, but one like Knock Out needed to get away on a long road.

Settling in for an extended wait, Breakdown tapped into the cameras for the med-lab, watching both patient and door, inside and out.  The vital feed from Megatron was distressingly empty, but that was to be expected.  Soundwave would sense any changes before the machine anyway.  All Breakdown had to do was keep Starscream from discovering the recharging bots.  By the time Soundwave woke, Breakdown would be stiff and overclocked, but for him it was nothing his favorite medic couldn’t fix, given the right incentive.  And then they would make like the bots on his screen, recharging together for as long as they could risk. 


	2. Chapter 2

“ _YOU_ , of all bots, assisted STARSCREAM in attempting to convince Soundwave to terminate my existence!”  Megatron yelled often, but he only gesticulated when truly upset.  He was pointing rather aggressively at each bot mentioned, though Knock Out was the only one present.

It was all to Knock Out’s benefit that he had anticipated this reaction before ever agreeing to the brain-rusted scheme.  “You were never in any danger.”  Megatron stopped short, blinking in the face of Knock Out’s self-assurance.  “We both know Soundwave would never have agreed to that.”  Megatron folded his arms, glaring as if to say that didn’t make it better.  “And you were already self-sustaining.  We just didn’t tell Starscream that.”

A beat passed.

Megatron burst into laughter, doubling over.  Knock Out grinned.  Some things were worth the extra effort.  This was definitely one of them.  Megatron gasped for breath, collapsing onto his knees.  As his mirth seemed to be waning, Knock Out continued his story.

“Soundwave’s worse.  He knew nothing about it.”  That hardly seemed like Soundwave.  “Well.  Breakdown and I didn’t _tell_ him.  And he just _stood there_ watching Starscream unplug you, waiting for the idiot to discover he’d done it all for nothing.”

Megatron didn’t laugh as hard at the second part as Knock Out has suspected.  Though, that was probably because Megatron knew Soundwave far better than Knock Out did.  And it hadn’t actually happened.  

“It would have been _glorious_.”  Megatron grinned, pulling Knock Out into his lap.  He nuzzled the side of Knock Out’s head like he was still a sparkling.  “Things are far less interesting without you around.”

“And Breakdown,” Knock Out suggested, desperately trying to secure his conjunx’ safety during this moment of lucidity.  It wouldn’t last long, but the decisions he made would still apply later.  “I mean, he might not be very interesting to anyone but me, but…”

Megatron looked into Knock Out optics with confusion.  “I find Breakdown very interesting, as does Soundwave.  What brought this on?”

Knock Out didn’t know what to say, except the truth.  “He was an Autobot…”

“Ah.”  Megatron settled more comfortably on the decking, shifting Knock Out into a less strenuous hold.

“I’m not actually a sparkling, you know.”  Of course, Knock Out had no idea what the state of Megatron’s neural damage was or why it allowed these moments.

“You were a youngling not so long ago.”  That was true, for a certain definition of not so long.  Knock Out was just one generation older than the Autobot’s scout, and he was one of the last few bots hatched before Cybertron’s core went dark.  Had it all gone so wrong so quickly?  Time was such a strange thing. 

It seemed to Knock Out that he’d been majority far longer than he’d endured the war on their dead planet, but that was anything but true.  His perception was off by millennia.  He’d been majority for just over two, but it had taken them nearly eight to leave their dead planet.  It had taken another three to kill Velocitron, the planet exploding out from under them.  Then the Decepticons and Autobots had fought their way across the galaxies, ravaging planets seeded with Energon, only to end up here.  Earth.  A bizarre little planet where the organics built lifeless Cybertronians by the thousands.

“Knock Out?”  Megatron settled him a little more securely, encouraging his young medic to lean against his chasse.  “Have you ever heard the story of the Rustbug and the Three Bolt-Bats?”

He had, thousands of times, like any sparkling, despite having grown up in the pits.  Or rather because of it.  The upper caste fairy tales were apparently _terrifying_. 

Nothing short of bond psychosis would convince him to do anything but make the most of this opportunity.  “I don’t remember,” he said, hoping Megatron would take that as an invitation to recite every word.  After all, it did feel nice to be held by a caretaker, even if he wasn’t a youngling anymore.

Breakdown was going to be so jealous.

The door opened right at the part where the Rustbug whispered to the Second Bolt-Bat.  Soundwave and Breakdown entered.  Laserbeak detached from her carrier’s chest with an excited trill, circling the ceiling.  Breakdown examined the scene before him blank-faced before turning to Soundwave, who had the audacity to shrug.  Knock Out had no doubt that Soundwave knew exactly what was going on and Breakdown didn’t have a clue.

Laserbeak landed on Megatron’s head, flapping excitedly between there and his shoulders, and generally chirping up a storm.  Knock Out leaned away from the Mini-Con’s antics as she flapped onto his chest.  He met Breakdown’s optics and watched recognition dawn.

“Is it story time?” the bruiser asked.  In reply, Soundwave shoved him towards the growing pile of bots.  Boldly, Breakdown settled cross-strut against Megatron’s side where he could, and promptly did, whisper in Knock Out’s ear.  “Glad I didn’t miss _this_.” 

The sarcasm was real, but so was the sentiment; Knock Out knew a thing or two about tough bots.  “Just as long as you don’t spoil the ending.”

Breakdown grinned, and they pretended not to notice Soundwave curling up to rest his head against Megatron’s other shoulder.  He was completely still as Megatron finished his retelling of the Rustbug and the Three Bolt-Bats, and if Soundwave were any other bot, Knock Out would have been sure he’d fallen into recharge.  As it was, he moved suddenly when Megatron selected a new story, beginning an illustrative pantomime for the Smithy of Seven Heliovoles.  Laserbeak turned attentively to him, her suddenly still weight a welcome warmth on Knock Out’s chest plates.

“Deployers take longer to mature,” Breakdown whispered directly into Knock Out’s audial.  “The stories are too complicated for her language center.” 

Despite being a medic, Knock Out hadn’t known that.  Of course, Knock Out was mostly self-taught.  His education had taken an abrupt halt when the Autobots had fractured from the Decepticons, separating him from his caretaker.  He’d foolishly thought, as sparklings were wont to do, that he and Breakdown could… pull the two factions back together based solely on the strength of their own bond.  Breakdown had gone with their caretaker and Knock Out with Megatron and Soundwave.  In the end, it left Breakdown a traitor and Knock Out missing someone he could no longer remember.  Only a few clouded lessons in wound care remained, along with a softened memory of cinnabar plating against his faceplates.  Oh, to be small again.

Knock Out watched the tiny bot on his chest plates, suddenly enraptured.  She was older than the scout, but still essentially a sparkling.  Megatron appeared to adore her.  It all followed, of course, this whole war had started over sparklings.  Of all the things to survive his many devolutions, that very fundamental drive would have to be it.

Halfway through How the Amphibicon Lost His Tail, as gentle whirring reached Knock Out’s audial.  Breakdown had fallen asleep.  The medic looked at his conjunx, then at his former caretakers.  They weren’t the one he had left behind at the start of the war, now just a faded memory of clinohumite armor and firm hands.  Breakdown left with him, with the Autobots after the ascension of Optimus Prime.  Only Breakdown had found his way back to Knock Out, leaving the medic to wonder on which planet his caretaker’s broken chasse lay.  But that was neither here nor now. 

Knock Out laid his head next to Breakdown’s, listening to the rumble of Megatron’s trusted voice and allowed his optics to close.


End file.
